Vomiting and Diarrhea

[Amy and Annabelle]

So Annabelle woke me up at about 1am with heavy panting. After a few minutes of her not settling back down I turned on the light and saw that she had vomited her dinner all over my bedding. She had thrown up the night before and it went clear through to the mattress pad. There was a lot of laundry cleaning that up. So I went and got her cage and put her in it while I cleaned up the mess. She was still panting heavily. While I was cleaning up the mess on the bed she threw up a couple of more times and had diarrhea in the cage. There was so much I had to get her out to clean the cage tray better. While I am still trying to clean up the cage tray,  she proceeds to have diarrhea all over the carpet and more puking. The vomit is becoming just liquid at this point. The diarrhea is going to take a steam cleaner I think, I cannot get it out of the carpet. I finally get everything cleaned up as good as it is going to be for 3am. She was still panting but seemed to have finally stopped everything else. The diarrhea stunk to high heaven. My husband and I could both smell it when we were downstairs and the bedroom being upstairs. She pretty much only eats Orijen dog food with maybe a recommended treat or boiled chicken once in awhile. Anyway I no sooner got the lights out and back into bed when she started vomiting again. Now I am up until 5:30am cleaning up various messes. Finally went back to bed for an hour. There has been no more vomiting or diarrhea, but she is lethargic. Which after what she went through during the night seems normal. I won't feed her today and when I do tomorrow it will be boiled chicken and sweet potatoes. This could not have happened at a worse time. Annabelle and I were going to Colorado to see my sister and her terminally ill husband in a few days. He has mesothelioma and I don't want Annabelle making him more sick. My husband was going to stay here and take care of winterizing the garden, but he would not be a good care taker for a sick Annabelle, while he is working hard doing that. Is this more than likely something that will run its course in a day or should I take her to the vet? I am running on empty at the moment and can't think.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Amy, she really must go to the vet. 

[Amy and Annabelle]

So if they give her meds I want panacur, right.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Not necessarily. They need to find out what's wrong with her first. Could be a foreign body in the gut, could be an infection, could be pancreatitis, hard to know. Panacur is only really helpful if she has giardia or other parasites, and this doesn;t sound like that. 

What you don't want is metronidazole without a diagnosis first. If they can confirm an infection in the gut, then that may be what she needs. But don't accept that without testing. 

[charlotte bednarsh]

Take her to the vet asap.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Panting can be a sign of pain, but it can also be a sign of many other things, including stress and dehydration. Panting is also the only way a dog can cool herself down, since dogs don't sweat, so it can be a sign of fever as well. But i agree, she needs to be seen by a vet. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I would insist on an Xray and sub-q fluids. 

Blood work can rule out pancreatitis: http://www.doodlekisses.com/group/healthandmedicalissues/forum/topi...

[Amy and Annabelle]

That is kind of scary, Annabelle has been smacking her lips for a couple of days now. I keep thinking she is eating something, but she is just smacking her lips.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

That's a major sign of nausea. 

[Amy and Annabelle]

I have a call into the vet. She is finally standing up and went outside to pee. I didn't know that panting was a sign of pain in dogs. I was wondering about fever since that is how they cool themselves off.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Dogs pant for so many reasons, and pain is one of the rarer ones. Panting in itself isn't a cause for alarm. But excessive or unusual panting combined with other symptoms might be. :) 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Amy, any updates? 

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Amy, I am so sorry.  Please update us as soon as you can.  Ned was sick once - diarrhea, vomiting, lethargy.  He had some sort of bug and needed medications to stop the dirrhea, settle the nausea and an antibiotic.  It didn't pass to the other dogs.